Boys Will Be What?

I'll admit it...before we had Baby m, I was very apprehensive about the possibility of having a boy. We chose not to find out the sex of our babies before their birth days, so we were surprised in the delivery room twice! When the assisting doctor slipped and referred to Baby m as "He" during the c-section, I did not feel the dread that I thought I would. Instead, I felt joy and anticipation at the thought of M being the father of a son. I cried.

As Baby m has grown, I have hardly thought of anything but love for him..."Why," I ask myself, "did I ever worry about this?" After all, as he grows, we grow...it's not like someone just throws a twelve year old boy in your lap. Well today, at E's new playgroup, I got a not-so-gentle reminder of why I was anxious. A twelve year old boy is one thing...but a four year old boy, in a group of other four year old boys, is downright terrifying.

When E and I walked into the room, just one of the little guys was there, playing quietly with play dough. Not too bad...he shared, he spoke politely, he walked from one toy to the next. Then another one arrived. The energy level rose, the play dough hit the floor, E walked over to the play kitchen, keeping her eye on the growing problem. By 10 minutes into group time, there was a gang of four, tearing around the room and throwing the toys at each other. They were uttering guttural noises, overturning chairs, and smacking each other with flashlights. To their credit, their mommies were intervening as necessary to make sure nobody got hurt...it is playgroup after all, and boys need to be allowed some room to be boys. And to her credit, E played happily in the kitchen, waving a tiny frying pan and yelling "NO!" anytime they got close to her.

My guess is that in a few years, Baby m will be a true toddler boy, and E will be waving some pretend cooking utensil at him too. And then all will be forgiven...at the end of playgroup, boys and girls alike came together for circle time, and joined Miss K in a round of "The Hugey Wugey Spider." As we made our exit, the gang of four was lined up in the hallway getting ready to race to the parking lot. Today I shuffled my little girl out of their way...tomorrow I may be rooting for Baby m to win.